The present invention relates to an apparatus and method for the decontamination of liquids and especially to a method and apparatus of decontaminating liquids using separate and combined electric and magnetic fields in combination with a selected gas injected into the liquid as it passes through the electric and magnetic fields.
Clean water and other types of fluids are essential to human life and industrial operations. One area of particular concern is the prevention of both microbial and chemical contamination of dental and medical waters. Clean water for household use is also a vital necessity. Many industries require ultra clean water and other fluids for their operations. Zoos, and animal hospitals, doctors and caretakers need clean water to assure the health of their wards.
A severe problem exits due to both microbial and chemical adherence to the interior surfaces of water feed lines and tubing. The formation of a highly protective biofilm layer provides ideal growth conditions for microbiological organisms and the accumulation of chemical contamination. Slime accumulation within fluid feed lines and tubing provides an ideal environment for water contamination. Exposure to Pseudomonas, Moraxella, Staphylococcus, and Legionella has been linked to medical and dental water. Potential exposures of people to these same micro-organisms exists in household water systems.
Present methods of chlorination of water at large water treatment facilities kills chloroform bacteria within the treatment plant. However, many bacteria are not affected by the chlorination and the method does nothing to decrease chemical contaminants. In fact, chlorination increases chemical contamination of water by creating chlorinated organics, such as the trihalomethanes. Even the effectiveness of chlorine to kill bacteria decreases with time after it is placed in the water. Thus, locations close to a water treatment facility have over chlorinated water and locations miles from the facility have little or no effective bactericide in their water.
A methodology has been developed and tested that will both kill micro-organisms and reduce many chemical contaminants in both water and other fluids. The present invention deals with a system of independent electric and magnetic fields in the presence of certain gases or agents and has been shown to notably reduce bacteria and other micro-organisms and simultaneously remove many chemicals from liquids. The method has been tested and shown to eliminate bacteria as well as chemicals from water flowing through a combination of electric and magnetic fields.
The present system combines the effects of electric and magnetic fields being placed across polluted water which has had predetermined gases fed therein. The electric field polarizes the molecules upon which its acts. This polarization disrupts the organic molecular action. Motion of these polarized molecules, both organic and inorganic, through a magnetic field produces a circular or turbulent motion that causes agglomeration into heavier particles. These particles are separated by gravity such that the cleaner fluid is above the fluid concentrated by the contaminated particles. Removing the lower contaminated fluid leaves a cleaner liquid.
Another important affect of the electric field is the creation of hydroxyl ions within the fluid. Recent attention has been given to the action of the hydroxyl radical and its role in the purification of water. Phenols and creosols react rapidly with the hydroxyl radical. A stoichiometric model for an Advanced Oxidation Process has been developed that is based on the fact that organic radicals, created by hydroxyl radicals, attack organic contaminants and react quickly with oxygen to form peroxy radicals. Then, these peroxy radicals can either eliminate super oxides to become stable by-products or undergo more complicated bio-molecular decay to yield hydrogen peroxide and other by-products.
Generated hydroxyl radicals have been found to produce rapid cell death of Escherichia coli in natural waters. In addition, the hydroxyl radical has been found to break the carbon-hydrogen bonds. Some twenty five contaminates have been studied, including solvents, aromatics, and pesticides containing nineteen additional compounds. All molecular structures were degraded by the hydroxyl radical. It has also been shown that the hydroxyl radical reacts rapidly with many organic substances in water and is a potential oxidant of refractory synthetic and natural organic compounds that are resistant to degradation by other processes.
The present system uses a combination of electric and magnetic fields to kill bacteria and remove certain chemical contaminants from various fluids. Synergistic effects are obtained by adding air, oxygen, ozone, and/or hydrogen peroxide to the fluid prior to or during its flow through the electric and magnetic fields. The electric and magnetic fields can be applied to the fluid either in sequence or simultaneously. Actual arrangement of the sequences of the application of the electric and magnetic fields and the use and injection locations of synergistic substances will be different depending upon the fluid being treated, the contaminants, and the particular system in which or to which the purification method is applied.
One prior art patent to Bossert, U.S. Pat. No. 5,304,302, is for an apparatus for treating a liquid with alternating magnetic and electric fields. The liquids are treated by passing the liquid through a flow path through a sequence of magnetic fields and a pulsed alternating electrical field. There are also a number of prior patents which utilize either an electric or a magnetic field including the Nathan patent, U.S. Pat. No. 5,738,766, for a device for neutralizing and preventing formation of scale. The descaling device is used to prevent the formation of calcium carbonate in a water conduit by utilizing a electromagnetic coil adjacent the conduit. Similarly, the Larson patent, U.S. Pat. No. 4,865,747, is an electromagnetic fluid treating device which passes a fluid through a non-magnetic conduit having a ferromagnetic core positioned within the conduit for treating the fluid with an electromagnetic field. The Yoshihisa patent, U.S. Pat. No. 4,014,766, is for an electrolytic treatment of waste water. Waste water is subjected to electrolysis in an electrolytic cell so that impurities in the waste water become occluded within a floc of iron hydroxide formed by electrolytic dissolution of iron pieces. A magnetic field can also be applied to the waste water treated electrolytically to promote sedimentation of the floc.